Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

Guess Who’s Coming to
Dinner offers us a timeless look
into late 1960’s American society, while examining prejudice and racism through
the introduction of interracial marriage on screen for the very first time in
American cinema. The film demonstrates Hollywood’s take on a call for social
justice and challenges the audience to confront their own ideas of
ethnocentricity.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner takes place over the span of 12 hours and
encompasses several events, beginning when Joey Drayton (Katharine Houghton) and John Prentice (Sidney Poitier) arrive together on a flight into San Fransisco.
Joey invites John, an African American Doctor, to meet her white liberal family
and inform them of their soon to be marriage. Matt and Christina Drayton (Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn), wealthy and liberal supporters of civil rights,
are exercising their beliefs and being put under the test by their daughter
Joey.

The Chicago Tribune explained that “the movie retained a central and
deeply complex position in culture,” as it conveyed stereotypes not just in
terms of race but also gender. Sydney Poitier’s character John Prentice, is a
graduate of John Hopkins who teaches at Yale University, while simultaneously
working with the United Nations and writing academic textbooks in his leisure. He
is simply every parent’s dream. Poitier was portrayed as an intelligent,
educated and well spoken black man to prove that any objections to their union
could only be raised due to racial differences. This was heavily evident by
Tillie, the Drayton’s African American maid. Her refusal to view him as a white
woman’s equal, let alone her husband was commonplace during that era and is
encapsulated when she utters the sentence “I do not like when one of my own
does not know their place” to Joey while they discuss the matter in private.
Many black Americans were against the idea of integration and interracial
relationships for a myriad of reasons with Tillie being at the forefront.

The director, Stanley Kramer, intentionally portrayed both families as wealthy, educated and forward
thinking with only one crucial difference: race. Even the age gap, 14 years,
didn’t seem of any significance when drawing parallels against racial lines.
Depicting the characters in a certain light is paradoxically the most remarkable
asset and hindrance for the film. Joey is a young woman whose naïveté,
impetuousness and frankness give her character a bubbly, optimistic outlook on
the current social climate. Her exclusion from important discussions was
typical of misogynistic behaviour and while she was inexperienced regarding
racial prejudice, she should have been shown more respect surrounding decisions
affecting her future. Poitier’s character, on the other hand, resembled a
dedicated, dependable and charming man all at the same time, making him fall in
love with a “pollyanna idiot.” These character attributes reflect how women
were typically viewed at the time and the condescending characterizations that
are still prevalent today.

The main female
characters are portrayed as empathetic with their decision making that is
viewed by their male counterparts as emotional. Throughout the movie, Matt
Drayton describes his wife as an emotional woman who fails to recognize what
might be in Joey’s best interest. When John speaks to Joey’s parents in the
study, he explains that there will be no marriage without their blessing, not
consulting his future wife about such a crucial decision. Evidence of the
patriarchy is blatantly obvious when Christina tells her husband that even if
John is willing to call off the marriage, Joey will not agree.

In 1967, interracial
marriage was illegal in some states, yet this movie was still Oscar nominated
despite the stereotypical depictions. Ultimately, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner broke barriers on the big screen and its themes are still celebrated today.